Tutor Successes - Nilay Thakkar

From India to the TECHniques Center: One Tutor's Journey to Work Here

By Nilay Thakkar

The best part about tutoring is its perennial quest for innovation, which presents a lot of exciting opportunities to explore and experiment. This statement fits best to the place where I currently work! Yes! I am talking about the TECHniques Center!!

Getting a job at the TECHniques Center was one of the reasons I came to Texas Tech University. It is also something that I am passionate about. Tutoring itself is one-of-a-kind profession where one makes a difference in someone else's life, and the reward is pure happiness.

I got this passion to teach and be a tutor from my mother. My mom has been my inspiration throughout my life. She used to be a teacher, and I always used to look at her as my role model. There is something special about this profession. I can say that it is the one and only profession in the world that teaches about other professions.

When I graduated in 2016, I intended to pursue a graduate degree. I wasn't sure which university to attend. Then I came across Texas Tech University. A friend of mine had one of his friends studying at Texas Tech. He told me about various courses available here at Tech and about the on-campus job opportunities, as well. Upon doing some research, I was certain that Texas Tech was the right platform to hone my skills.

It was during this research time I came across various job opportunities on campus, and the TECHniques Center was one of them. After I read the TECHniques Center's website, I was so happy to know that this program focuses on making a difference in student's life. Within no time, I started imagining myself working at TECHniques Center. I remember telling my mom that one day I will get this job and I will become a tutor at the TC! During this time, I even came across the TECHniques Center's Instagram page and viewed their posts. I knew that this place was something different and had that dynamic feeling.

By the time to got to Tech, I missed the deadline to apply for the TECHniques Center for the fall semester. I started working at the Hospitality services for the first semester. During this semester, I used to look at Techannounce every day, waiting for information about any opening at the TECHniques Center. Towards the end of the semester, I saw the announcement that Engineering majors were needed!! I applied on the same day, and then the next week I got a call for an interview. I was on cloud 9. The interview process was like a friendly conversation to know each other. By this time, I was already in love with this place! The wait for the result that if I was selected or not was making me impatient day by day.

Then one day I got a call saying that I was selected to work at the TECHniques Center! I was so happy that day! Immediately I called my mom to inform her. She was happy, too. Then came the fun part: tutor training. I met a lot of people and learned a lot about being a successful tutor.

I have been working here for more than two months now, and the experience here is so good that I cannot express it in words. The work environment here is so amazing. We are all like a family. There are different challenges that we come across during our tutoring sessions, and the most interesting part is how we take up those challenges and overcome them together as a team.